Wirral council to press government for flood defences after “unprecedented” storms

Wirral council to press government for flood defences after “unprecedented” storms

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Wirral council is to press the government to help pay for the damage to the borough’s coastline from “unprecedented” storms at the end of 2013.

More than £250,000 worth of damage was inflicted by the storm surge at the beginning of December, mainly New Brighton and West Kirby.

Wirral council’s cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Brian Kenny, said: “We are not happy at all – the prime minister David Cameron was on TV a few weeks ago saying money is no object and they will pay for whatever needs to be done.

“That’s great news for those people but the reason I’m upset is in Wirral we suffered a quarter of a million pounds worth of storm damage and all we have had from the government is £20,000.”

The council’s £250,000 estimate for repairs includes dealing with superficial damage in several areas, including New Brighton Marine Lake and repairs to street furniture, in addition to the cost of increased street cleaning and surface drain cleaning.

Cllr Kenny said the council was now being forced to pay for repairs out of its reserves and this was diverting money from frontline services.

He said: “This is damage which could happen again – so we will be asking the chief executive of the council to write to the government and seek an assurance that we will be treated the same way as the traditional Conservative heartlands down south.

“We need to be clear if David Cameron is talking to the whole country.

“It’s important that we set down a marker now so if storms like this happen again we want to be sure we will not be pushed to one side.”

The meeting being held today at Wallasey town hall of Wirral’s full council will be asked to back the plan to call on the government to help the borough.

The notice, proposed by Cllr Kenny, said: “This is money that could have been used to protect front-line services from further Tory-Lib Dem cuts.”

It will call for the chief executive Graham Burgess “to write to the government seeking equal and

fair treatment for Wirral”.

Cllr Phil Davies, Labour leader of Wirral council said; “This is just another example of the Tory-led government failing to protect areas like Wirral.

“Not only have we seen disproportionately harsh cuts to council budgets, compared to many of the southern areas affected by the floods, we also have to fund the majority of any damage repairs ourselves – receiving a poultry £20,000 from the government, less than 10% of what is needed.

“I have instructed the Chief Executive to write to the government seeking equal and fair treatment for Wirral.”